While He Sleeps
by California Mountain girl
Summary: Reylo Ben/Rey. Spoilers don't read it you haven't watched TLJ. Rey finds the tattered remains of Ben Solo in a dreaming state. While the ever-present danger of Kylo finding out she is connected to him through their minds, Ben has something important to say.
1. Chapter 1

Before he wakes

Part one

The silence of hyperspace was the only place where she could feel distance from him. Since the battle on the salt planet she thought that the force bond between them would fade. Instead, it only strengthaned. The only way that Rey could handle the closeness between her and Ben Solo was to simply ignore him, no matter how hard it was.

The window between them would open randomly, and sometimes in the most awkward times. Just as she fell asleep, or while she was in mid-sentence in conversation with Finn or Poe, he would materialize just our of the corner of her eye. If that wasn't bad enough, she was starting to feel what he felt as well.

Rey felt his hunger. Ben was hungry most of the time. Not for the lack of food, but for the lack of feeding himself. Rey had to wonder if he starved himself purposefully, as a way of self harm. But this wasn't the most disturbing aspect of their connection. What disturbed Ray the most was that Ben Solo could possibly be connected to her in the same way. Ben could possibly be feeling her hunger, her loneliness, and the emptiness she felt as she gazed at other families. Finn was an orphan in certain ways, just as she, yet he had found Rose. Now Rose filled that empty spot for Finn that Rey still felt gaping within herself.

There was a longing Rey had always felt when she saw other people and their chosen companions. It was a small chink in her armor, and she knew that Ben probably saw it. Nobody was perfect, and this was her one weakness that he had already tried to exploit. She remembered how Ben had so easily ripped her heart from her chest, and offered a place by his side in exchange. He had destroyed all the faith she had ever had in him at that moment.

Now, sitting in her quarters while the fleet traveled through hyperspace, she felt the silence and let herself relax. Leaning against the bed in her room, she let the mental walls she had built around herself fall...and exhaled.

"Rey?" She heard his voice in her head just as clear as if he was sitting next to her.

She jumped, trying not to let him feel her surprise. "Why can't you leave me be?" Rey asked, feeling anger in her voice.

"Do you really think I'm controlling this?" Ben answered.

"How could you not be."

"I'm not." The answer was stoic, and without any emotion.

"I want it to end." Rey whispered.

"As do I."

Turning her attention to him, she felt his anger, mixed with a dark sadness that could only be described as a ever rolling thundercloud across her mind. He was the darkest cloud in the sky, angry and beautiful in his own tragic way.

He met her gaze for the first time since she had left him behind on the salt planet. He was wearing the familiar black garb she now found familiar. Ben's dark eyes stared at her and she recognized the same loneliness that she felt within him. Despite herself, she saw once again that she and the man she despised were simular in the aspect of crippling loneliness. But she tried to stay on task.

"How do we end it?" Ray asked.

"I don't know," Ben muttered, his pale features glancing around her, obviously being able to see her surroundings. "I could kill you. That would end it."

His harshness made her frown. He was her enemy, and she was his. He was angry. And she was angry at him as well. Turning away, she began to build the mental wall between them again.

"Rey, wait!"

She hesitated, turning over her shoulder in her mind's eye. "What do you want?"

Ben's lips parted ever so slightly, and his dark eyes looked human for a moment. "Why?"

"Why, what?" Rey asked.

"I offered you the universe," Ben's voice turned low, almost a growl. "Why didn't you take it?"

Rey looked away again, "If you don't know that, than you really are a monster." With that, she closed the connection between them. However, as she did, she heard him screaming at her. Calling her names, cursing it, and cursing the Force. So angry, like a storm blowing against the brick wall in her mind.

Later, Rey tried to forget about him as she drifted off into her sleep. She tried to forget his dark eyes, and the way she had fought so coherently side by side with the man she was now was convinced was a monster. She tried to forget the way he had listened to her in her loneliness, and that he felt the same loneliness within him when they spoke.

It was after she finally drifted away in sleep, that she felt him again. But his voice was different, and calling to her weakly in the dark.

"Rey? Rey can you hear me?" Quiet and distant, he sounded far weaker than she had ever heard him before.

Rey knew she was dreaming when she opened her eyes to a white room around her. This was not the gray walls of her bedroom aboard the alliance cruiser. She was still asleep. But Ben was here?

"Ben?" She asked, hesitantly. After their last conversation, Rey was a little afraid of speaking to him again. Getting up, Rey stepped slowly away from her bed and to the door in the white wall. Opening the door, she peered down an endless white hallway.

There, crumpled against the floor and the wall, lay a man. With a dark head of hair falling into his face, he propped himself up on his side against the wall in a half sitting position. He wore ragged tan clothes that were ripped and torn, and he was covered in filth.

Out of instinct, Rey ran up to him. This person needed help, she should help him. Kneeling next to him, she placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to peer into his face. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

When he looked up at her, Rey felt the breath leave her chest as she instantly recognized the man who had haunted her every moment for the past three months. "Ben?"

To be continued!


	2. Chapter 2

While he Sleeps

Part two

After the initial recourse, Rey swallowed hard as she stared down into the face of Ben Solo. Although this man was far different from the individual who had screamed at her through the Force not hours before.

Ben Solo crouched near the floor, his face a mass of purple bruises and his lip cut and one hand leaned against the wall to support him, the other cradled his chest, burying itself in his ragged tan clothing. Rey had never seen him look like this, and it shocked her. But it was the sensation of being near him that nearly left her speechless. Sadness radiated off him, as well as pain. So much pain.

Struggling to compose herself, Rey inched closer to him, curiosity filling her mind. In a dream state, she felt herself act on impulses without even thinking about the consequence.

"What are you doing here?" Rey asked abruptly. "What happened to you?"

Ben looked up at her, and then blinked slowly. "I... came... to..." His words dragged from his mouth slowly, and his low voice shook ever so slightly. "Warn you."

"What?" Rey tried to hide her shock but it seemed impossible. Her emotions were transparent in the white hallway of her unconscious. "You were just screaming at me. Why would you come here to warn me? You are my enemy."

Ben looked away, his bloodshot eyes staring at the ground in front of her, "You're right. I am..."

"So?" Rey crossed her arms over her chest, "What do you want."

Ben looked up at her again, the exhaustion on his features so painfully evident that she could see the dark shadows beneath his eyes. "I came to tell you... to run."

Swallowing hard, Rey felt a chill run down her spine. "Run? Run from what?"

As if the energy to talk had taken too much out of him, Ben slumped further down the side of the wall. Exhaling, his eyes closed.

Rey reached out tentatively, touching his shoulder, "Ben?"

He didn't answer.

"Ben!"

He opened his eyes halfway, peering at her through heavy eyelids.

"What should I be running from?" Rey asked, leaning down over him.

"Me..." With that, he closed his eyes again, letting his head fall all the way to the floor.

His answer was simple, but it made her freeze in an unreal terror. "Ben, you're not making any sense."

It was at that moment, that the lights in the bright white hallway began to flicker. Looking up, Rey could see a dark shadow emerging from the very end of the hallway. With each flicker of the lights, the darkness came closer and closer, eating up the white hallway in blackness.

"Ben?" Rey felt her heartbeat begin to race, "Ben, what is that?" She felt it. Coldness. Hatred. The Dark Side in all its raw power was coming toward her with every flicker of the lights.

Groaning, Ben struggled to get to his feet. It was obviously difficult, but he dragged himself to stand between Rey and the growing shadow of darkness looming down the hall. He swayed, staring at the darkness at it approached. "He's coming for us," He muttered.

"Who?" Rey asked, slowing getting to her feet behind him.

Ben turned to her, grabbing her hand and lunging toward one of multiple white doors in the luminescent hall. He staggered as he reached for the doorknob, twisting it desperately and throwing it open to an unknown destination beyond.

"Kylo Ren," Ben answered, his voice losing itself as he dragged Rey through the door and into another level of their combined unconscious minds.


	3. Chapter 3

While He Sleeps

Part 3

The first sensation Rey redgistered was swirling sand against her skin and under her boots. In giant bursting swarms, sand flew on wind around them in roaring billows and waves. Wherever they were, it was dark. In the night the sand was so thick she could barely see through it. Ben still held onto her hand, and he led her through the sand storm, trudging ahead in unsteady strides.

"Where are we going?" Rey called, her voice nearly loosing itself in the howl of the wind.

"Running lights!" Ben called back, tugging on her hand, "Don't you see them?"

Rey peered through the sand, and then blinked hard as the tiny specks of rock blinded her. "I can't see!"

Ben ignored her, and kept up his pace of desperate staggering. He held onto her hand, his fingers cold and vice-like.

She tried to come to grips with her situation as she partially shielded her eyes from the sand as it assaulted her. Rey knew two things: She was sleeping, and Ben Solo was sleeping as well. However, what she didn't understand was how Kylo Ren had disengaged himself from Solo. The fact that the shadow of the Dark Side chased after them in the form a massive black figure boggled her mind. This train of thought was dashed, however, when she felt her feet hit a metal ramp.

Rey looked up to sese the hull of a ship, and not just any ship. The Mellenium Falcon's battered hull was open, with the landing ramp down, waiting for them to run up it. In desperation, Rey and Ben tore up the ramp. Blinking in the light, Rey glanced around the inside of the familiar ship and saw that it was drasticly changed from when she'd seen it last.

If it was possible, the ship had become less ragged. The last time she had flown the Falcon, Chewie had torn out several larger engine parts in an intense anxiety-filled overhaul. Now, the Falcon was in better shape than she'd ever seen it.

"Rey!" Ben yelled from the cockpit, "Rey! Get in here."

Barreling down the hallway, Rey lunged for the co-pilot's chair, flipping on the lighter engines and warming up the sublight engines by flipping two different levers. As she stared out the main window of the cockpit, Rey saw the dark figure of Kylo Ren approaching, his red lightsaber drawn as he flew through the sand as if it propelled him toward them. A sinking sensation in her stomach told her that if the demon caught her and Ben, she wouldn't be able to escape from this vivid dream unscathed. As she watched the dark figure come forward, her heart felt as if it would beat out of her chest from fear. "Go..." She blurted out, "Go, Ben!"

With the engines finally warmed up, Ben pulled up on the throttle, lifting the Falcon up and away from the sandy surface of the planet. The subtle pull of the atmosphere tugged at Rey, pushing her back into the co-pilot's seat, but she barely felt the sensation as she exhaled a deep breath of relief.

Ben waited until he guided the ship into the cool crisp silence of hyperspace before he let himself relax, collapsing back against the pilot's chair.

"Made it," Rey muttered to him, turning in her chair to stare at Ben.

He didn't answer her. Instead, he stared out the cockpit and into hyperspace.

"Ben," Rey edged closer to him, "Tell me what is going on."

Slowly, he turned to look at her. Ben's battered features showed the pain she felt radiating off him. Blinking slowly, Ben's gaze shifted to the interior of the Falcon, scanning the worn chairs and well-used instruments. "I don't really know," he said slowly, "I don't remember you being here... before."

Without another word, he got up, and gingerly made his way out of the cockpit.

Rey hesitated. Ben wasn't acting normal. In fact, he seemed to be ignoring her at this point. Was it possible that he wasn't sure that she was... real?

Getting up, Rey followed Ben as he made his way to the medical area. In slow and deliberate movements, Ben opened the cabinet where the medical supplies were kept, and began rummaging around with his left hand. Once again, his right was clutching his chest.

Rey came to stand at his side, "What happened to you?"

His hand was starting to get clumsy in its movements, and he fumbled to drag an oxygen mask out of its place. Instead of putting it over his mouth properly, he settled for just breathing into the mask and holding it into place with one hand. Ben leaned against the wall, his hair falling in his face as he breathed in the oxygen from the mask.

She stared at him for another long second, battling with herself with every second that passed. He was like a creature that had been beaten and then left for dead. Although the man had become her enemy, she hated to see a creature, even a creature she had become to dread, suffer. Besides, the Ben Solo who stood before her didn't look like Kylo Ren... Maybe he wasn't?

Shedding her in securities, Rey finally let herself step forward. Taking his hand away from the mask, she quickly placed the straps over his ears. "Sit down," She commanded, "I think Chewie keeps the bacta in here, somewhere."

At first Ben sat on the chair, but he quickly slid to lay down on his back. Speaking around the mask on his face, Ben's voice was somewhat muffled. "It won't work. Nothing works."

Rey found the liquid packs just where she thought the would be, and then crouched beside him. "Bacta works with time," Rey said. Gently, she attempted to push away Ben's hand from his chest.

Lifting his head up, Ben nudged her hand away, "Stop."

He puzzled her once again. "You're hurt. I can tell you're in pain."

Ben turned his head away, silently giving her permission to continue. Rey gritted her teeth together, and then gently moved Ben's hand away from his chest.

The first hint of the damage was the stains on his shirt. Dried blood and filth darkened the light tan of the fabric, making it crinkle as she pulled it away from his skin. Holding her breath, Rey peeled away the remnants of his shirt and gasped at what she say.

It looked as if someone had held a torch to his chest. Charred and infected, his chest was a mess of burns. "By the stars," Rey whispered, "What happened? Who did this?"

Ben turned to look at her slowly. "I did."

Rey stared at him, watching as his breath fogged up the oxygen mask. What did it all mean? Returning her attention back to the horrendous damage on his chest, she swallowed hard. "This is too much. You need something better than just this bacta, but I'll try."

Looking away once again, Ben said nothing. He seemed to have resigned himself.

Carefully, Rey squeezed the bacta out of its pouch and then onto the mass of seared flesh on Ben's chest. As the liquid came into contact with his wound, Ben let a hiss escape from his lips as his entire body curled in pain.

"I'm sorry," Rey whispered, wincing as she pushed away his hands, "Just a little more. Just a little more, I promise it's almost over."

She didn't warn him when she let the last bit of bacta touched his skin, and this time his reaction was swallowed and he only let out a small gasp.

"No more," Ben muttered, "It won't work. No more. God, please... No more." He was begging now.

Rey drew her attention away from the bacta as it hissed and fuzzed on his multiple burns. "No more." She reached over and adjusted the mask over Ben's mouth, and saw how wide his brown eyes were as he stared at her. Ben Solo was a wounded animal, weak from running. Rey had seen it before, but never in the proud man she had faced multiple times now. No. This was someone... different. Without thinking, Rey smoothed his dark brown hair away from his forehead in an attempt to comfort him.

Glancing back down to Ben's chest, Rey watched in amazement as the bacta continued to fizz as it reacted to Ben's skin. The ointment was specifically designed to accelerate healing in many types of biological life. But Rey hadn't ever seen anything like this. It was almost magic. Where the liquid lay, it healed the gnarly burns that covered the front of his chest, replacing the wounds with fresh pink re-grown skin.

To Be Continued


	4. Chapter 4

While He Sleeps part 4

Rey stared at the miraculous healing as it happened, and her mind fought against it. This made no sense! She had never seen the bacta work so quickly. "What is happening?" Rey breathed, her hands starting to shake, "I have never seen it work so quickly. So well."

Rey was not the only one that was shocked. Sitting up halfway, Ben touched the new pink skin on his chest with his fingers. He mumbled something, but it wasn't completely audible around the oxygen mask.

Looking at the pack of liquid in her hand, Rey saw that it still held some bacta in the clear plastic container. "If we are dreaming, than it makes sense, I would suppose," Rey said quietly, more to herself than to him.

With a little more hesitance than before, Rey reached up and gently removed the oxygen mask from Ben's face. Placing a small amount of the bacta on her fingertips, Rey inched ever slightly closer and gently brushed her fingertips over the swollen cut just at his left eyebrow.

Like a breath of life, everywhere the bacta touched, Ben healed almost instantly. Inch by inch, Rey cleared Ben's face of bruises and cuts. Where his left eye had been nearly swollen shut, the bacta cleared the swelling and took the bruise away as if by magic. Finally, Ben looked up at Rey with wide eyes, his face completely cleared of bruises and cuts.

Taking in a deep breath, Ben sat up, his attention drawn away from Rey for the moment as he stared down at his smooth chest. "By the gods," he muttered, "I don't believe it." Gently, he rested his fingertips against the toned muscle and smooth skin.

Rey stared up at him, her amazement almost matching his. Finally, she drew a shaky breath. "So this is a dream," she stated. It was partly a question, really. "You were the one who called me from the hallway. You wanted to warn me. Tell me what you meant?"

Ben dragged his eyes away from his chest, and then covered up the newly-healed pink skin with the rag he wore as a shirt. "I think we are dreaming, yes." He glanced around the hull of the Falcon. Finally he let his gaze meet hers, his dark brown eyes earnest. "And I wanted to warn you that..." He swallowed and then glanced at his hands before looking up, "The First Order is coming for you. You and the rest of the Resistance. And this time, I won't be able to stop him from doing what he wants."

Rocking back on her heels, Rey backed away from the man who she knelt in front of. "What are you talking about?" She scooted back another inch, unconsciously putting distance between herself and the man she had just healed. "Are you saying you're going to kill me, Ben? Is that what you're saying?"

He bit at the inside of his mouth, his eyes turning to the floor space between them. "I wouldn't ever want to hurt you, Rey. But... I can't control myself. I can't control him."

A shudder ran down Rey's back, and suddenly the temperature in the room dropped. "You're saying you can't control Ren."

Slowly, Ben shook his head. "He is too strong."

Rey got up slowly, still looking at Ben with more than just a little intimidation. "He is you," she muttered, her voice only barely audible, "You are him. I don't understand." Without realizing it, Rey brushed her fingertips against the hilt of her lightsaber.

Ben froze, his mouth forming a thin line as he watched her hand as it hovered near her lightsaber. After a moment of silence, he stared up into her eyes with the piercing gaze that haunted her memory.

"I am Ben Solo," he said, his voice low and in his chest. "I can't sleep, and food has no taste. When I'm awake, Ren is a part of me. I am the monster he is. But when I sleep, we separate."

Rey stood riveted to the spot on the floor. She was frozen as he spoke, unblinking and unable to move, as if he cast a spell over her. As much as wished she could blame him for holding her speechless, it wasn't true. She couldn't move because she was didn't want to. That intense lonliness, that undending feeling of un-trusting curiosity that molded into hope, that's what Ben Solo meant to her. That meaning made her halt in her tracks and stare at the man who was apparently sharing this portion of her mind with her.

"You separate?" Rey took in a shaky breath and tried to steady herself. "Tell me the truth. What happened to you?" She exhaled, and let her hand fall away from the lightsaber that hung at her belt.

He lost his rigidness as she moved her hand away from her weapon. Dragging his fingers through his thick raven hair, he sighed. "He finds me, and every time I'm weaker than before."

"So," Rey stepped closer just the tiniest bit. "That is what happens to you? This is what he does to you?"

Ben stood up, carefully stretching out his legs under him. "Yes," he answered. "I've never connected to you before like this. And I wanted to warn you."

He took a step closer to her, and she couldn't help but notice his intense height and broad shoulders as he towered over her.

She blinked. "And... We're dreaming?" Rey chose her words carefully.

Ben glanced about the interior of the Falcon. "From what I can tell, yes. It's just a matter of whose head we're in."

Following his gaze, Rey bit at her lip. "This isn't what the Falcon looks like now," she said. "Chewie rebuilt the under-hull. It's a mess. So from what I can tell, this is a memory. But not my memory."

"Ah," Ben said. "Then... We're in my head."

"Yes." Rey said. "When we were in the hallway, you were one to open the door so your mind must have chosen where we went."

Ben nodded, his eyes lingering on her as he tried to act as if he wasn't watching every move she made. "So we're in my mind, in the Falcon."

Rey rubbed her hands up and down her arms. When in the coldness of hyperspace, she often felt chilled. She was from a hot desert climate, so it never surprised her that the cold of space chilled her. However, she had to admit she wasn't expecting it in a dream state. Rubbing her hands over her arms again, she gazed up at Solo with an awkward stare. "Are we safe?"

He swallowed hard, dragging his eyes away from her, sensing that he was making her uncomfortable. "Yes. We're in hyperspace now. Ren can't find us here."

As if Ben's words capsized the universe, the Falcon suddenly heaved to one side as the sound of metal on metal grinding against itself screamed. Rey was thrown into the air as the lights inside the main living space flickered.

Yelping in surprise, Rey felt herself fall against Ben as they were both tossed from their feet and against the wall of the ship. Ben was warm against her chilled skin, and his body was soft compared to the solid cabin walls.

Ben, on the other hand, apparently caught her elbow with his stomach. Moaning, he moved her away as he lay against the wall of the cabin.

Sitting up, Rey noted that the entire cabin had been turned on its side. Gravity had effectively been turned sideways. This meant that the internal gravity generator had been damaged. "What is going on?"

Laying on his back, Ben stared at the opposite wall, cursing under his breath.

An alarm trilled from the cockpit. Rey recognized the shrill piercing sound as a proximity alert. "Oh no," She breathed, jumping to her feet and racing to the cockpit. Slipping into the pilot's chair, she stared out the main window in the cockpit.

Outside, the blackness of space was speckled with New Order star destroyers. Six of the massive triangular ships sat in attack formation with swarms of Tie-fighters heading toward them. "Ben!" Rey yelled over her shoulder, "Get down here, we got company!"

(To be continued Thanks for reading this far, and I hope I've cleared up some of the confusion. Please review! Reviews really do help, I love positive feedback!)


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